I believe the premise was that there was no one behind you. If I am a single with a foursome in front of me but no one for several holes behind me, I sometimes enjoy a great amount of practice by just working on my game, and may even go back and play a hole again. Sure, it's not a legitimate handicap round, but it is great for my game, and I always manage to keep pace with the foursome in front of me. If and when a two-some or three-some catches up to me I will invite them to play along. If a foursome catches up with me and no one is behind them, I have been known to invite them to play through - I can use all the practice I can get, and when those rare opportunities present themselves I take full advantage.

We all know that we should maintain pace with the group ahead of us and not the one behind. I was playing in a foursome yesterday, and by the fifth hole we had lost contact with the foursome ahead of us. I suggested we pick up our pace, but the other three thought that since there was no group behind us, we weren't holding any one up, so there was no need to play faster.

I didn't have a response for that. Any help?

So... you "suggested that we pick up our pace..." but you don't really say that you feel your pace was actually particularly slow, simply that the group ahead had gotten away from you, yet nobody had caught up from behind. Was your group really playing slowly? Had you not "gotten away" from the group that started behind you? Or was the course sort of slow with natural gaps between starts? I certainly agree that it is important to keep up a good pace, but I also agree that there is a fine line between playing promptly and hurrying. If there's nobody behind you, there's certainly no reason to hurry. There are several legit reasons the group ahead might get away from you, particularly if they had open space to start with. For example, a group of better players will just take less time to complete a hole that a group of average players simply because there are less strokes involved.

If you were unhappy with the group's pace you could have left them behind as has been suggested, and you don't have to play with them in the future, but I don't see a reason for the other three to rush things up under the circumstances as reported.

We all know that we should maintain pace with the group ahead of us and not the one behind. I was playing in a foursome yesterday, and by the fifth hole we had lost contact with the foursome ahead of us. I suggested we pick up our pace, but the other three thought that since there was no group behind us, we weren't holding any one up, so there was no need to play faster.

I didn't have a response for that. Any help?

Let them know you don't wish to spend the rest of the day watching them double par every hole.

Or that you have incontinence which usually holds out for about 4 hours.

If a single on the golf course is playing slow, does anyone make a sound??

If I'm playing by myself and nobody is behind me, I'll usually play 2 balls, take my sweet time, and still be done in 3 hours give or take. As soon as I see someone behind me though, I pick up the pace (if needed) and it's a non-issue.

If I am out practicing I don't even play every hole. Some I just roll to the greens and chips from areas that usually give me trouble. Same with tee shots. Will just hit 3-4 balls, drive out and pick them up and move one to something else. At my former home course they let me do whatever I want and I don't bother anyone. Some days I play 1-2-7 and then the back 9. If I catch up to someone they rarely even know I am there because I use the ranger trails to go around people. Chances are they know me anyway. Just walking to the pro shop usually brings round of "hey Dave" from the other regs.

So... you "suggested that we pick up our pace..." but you don't really say that you feel your pace was actually particularly slow, simply that the group ahead had gotten away from you, yet nobody had caught up from behind. Was your group really playing slowly? Had you not "gotten away" from the group that started behind you? Or was the course sort of slow with natural gaps between starts? I certainly agree that it is important to keep up a good pace, but I also agree that there is a fine line between playing promptly and hurrying. If there's nobody behind you, there's certainly no reason to hurry. There are several legit reasons the group ahead might get away from you, particularly if they had open space to start with. For example, a group of better players will just take less time to complete a hole that a group of average players simply because there are less strokes involved.

If you were unhappy with the group's pace you could have left them behind as has been suggested, and you don't have to play with them in the future, but I don't see a reason for the other three to rush things up under the circumstances as reported.

I agree, the group in front could have been playing "speed golf" which means that to keep up with them, groups behind would have to rush. If the course has a standard pace of play for a round and people are maintaining that pace and no one is behind them I see no reason to conform to the rabbits in front .

well my theory is if nobody was behind you then I wouldn't worry about how long it was taking to play unless it affects your game.i don't like guys trying to play real fast as if theyd rather be somewhere else.i actually enjoying being out there playing.if you don't have 4-5 hours to spend playing then you probably don't need to be playing 18.i don't particularly like waiting on every shot because it hurts your rhythym however im not gonna complain about it too much because im playing a game I love.

Also, If you decide to move on up and leave them, you will eventually get caught behind the group in front anyway.. Who says they'll let you play through? You would wind up getting caught by the "slow pokes" you ditched.

Seriously, why are you guys still talking about this? Who cares what you do on the course if there is no one behind you? I play during the week often and there is no one there. I take my time, even take a few balls and few practice putts after I sink my playing ball to get real practice out on a course. If I'm not bothering anyone because there is no one behind me, where is the problem?

Some of the things you guys argue about on here are amusing, especially considering they can be answered with common sense. It doesn't seem to be so "common" these days.

We all know that we should maintain pace with the group ahead of us and not the one behind. I was playing in a foursome yesterday, and by the fifth hole we had lost contact with the foursome ahead of us. I suggested we pick up our pace, but the other three thought that since there was no group behind us, we weren't holding any one up, so there was no need to play faster.

I didn't have a response for that. Any help?

Nice topic....you make a great point!!

Aside from off-season golf or playing at a time when the course is nearly empty......maintaining pace is an absolute must. Play that is following behind is not relevant..........people looking over their shoulder is what causes golf cluster FKS.

HACKER LOGIC:

"Hey..........since the group behind of us sukks even worse and is pacing a 6 hour round, our 5hr round is OK" ....this logic is no good. If your group can't maintain pace.....GET OFF the course.

If I was stuck in your position, whether I'd ditch and play ahead or not depends on what was in front of us. If I knew there was a 2 or 3some ahead, I'd play ahead and catch the quicker group. If I had to play through 1 4-some to do it, I'd still play ahead. If the course is stacked with 4-somes....there is nowhere to go. If no marshal was around, I might call the pro-shop to complain about my own group to get a marshal out to assist with prodding my group along...........LOL

As a person who pairs-up a lot......the worst thing is getting paired and being in "THAT GROUP" that can't keep up.....I don't care how bad they are so long as we keep up and maintain golf course position.

Seriously, why are you guys still talking about this? Who cares what you do on the course if there is no one behind you? I play during the week often and there is no one there. I take my time, even take a few balls and few practice putts after I sink my playing ball to get real practice out on a course. If I'm not bothering anyone because there is no one behind me, where is the problem?

Some of the things you guys argue about on here are amusing, especially considering they can be answered with common sense. It doesn't seem to be so "common" these days.

I was waiting on a group of four older guys today and so the pace of the game slowed up a bit. I had a guy with a thick Boston accent behind me swearing left and right. He came up to me and said that he hates golf hahah, typical.

I volunteer as a 'Player Assistant' at a local course on Saturdays. I'm a Ranger, basically. All our carts have GPS & it tells me whether they are on pace or not. As well, it displays on their cart as well - "14 minutes behind pace" or whatever.

So on my PA cart I see where all the carts are. Any ones showing behind pace, I go and check out what's going on. The first thing I check is, are they holding anyone up? If the answer is no, I don't even think to approach them to ask to pick up the pace. I do note their cart numbers for reference & check back a little later to see if anyone has caught them.

But to suggest a group to pick up the pace when they're not holding up anyone makes little sense to me.

I won't even make a comment until I know whether they were behind pace or not. I don't think there was enough information for me to say if they should have cared one way or the other. I think people who are automatically assuming that the group was playing slow because they fell behind the people in front are just a bit trigger happy about "pace of play".

one year at the beach we had 2 3somes playing and we were the 2nd group.well we had a ranger come up on back nine and told us to try and pick up pace alil bit and we hadn't seen anyone behind us for a long time and definitely nobody even on hole behind us.talk about being non hospitable for paying pretty penny to play there I was kinda stunned by his comments.i guess they say these things in an attempt to prevent slow play but to me I take that personal because I feel were being accused of slow play which I promise you we were not.if anything we don't take our time enough to play better.another time back at a nearby home course we were on the second hole and I had hit my tee ball about 10 yards off fairway near a few small trees and just as we got to the area to start walking to look for my ball a ranger pulls up and says ill give you a ball if you need a ball just because id been looking for my ball 10 seconds,haa.talk about feeling rushed.sometimes you just gotta overlook people.

one year at the beach we had 2 3somes playing and we were the 2nd group.well we had a ranger come up on back nine and told us to try and pick up pace alil bit and we hadn't seen anyone behind us for a long time and definitely nobody even on hole behind us.talk about being non hospitable for paying pretty penny to play there I was kinda stunned by his comments.i guess they say these things in an attempt to prevent slow play but to me I take that personal because I feel were being accused of slow play which I promise you we were not.if anything we don't take our time enough to play better.another time back at a nearby home course we were on the second hole and I had hit my tee ball about 10 yards off fairway near a few small trees and just as we got to the area to start walking to look for my ball a ranger pulls up and says ill give you a ball if you need a ball just because id been looking for my ball 10 seconds,haa.talk about feeling rushed.sometimes you just gotta overlook people.

If they were double teeing, then pace is a big issue. They time tee times to make it as seamless as possible to slip people in the correct order. It IS possible you fell a bit behind their schedule- even if nobody was behind you. But I would guess he was more worried about the guys who fell back behind you. They probably saw him a lot more than you did.